This year PRDREAM’s Summer Film Fest presents two Puerto Rican crime films La Venganza de Correa Cotto, directed by Jeronimo Mitchel; and La Palomilla, directed by Efrain Lopez Neris, as an exploration of crime as a form of protest. Classics in their own right, they were produced in Puerto Rico in the seventies and reflected an earlier period of transformation and transvaluation of island society brought on by U.S. investment policies known as Operation Bootstrap.

These films portray the law as an external imposition, foreign to the values of the common folk, and the outlaw as the unconscious expression of revolt. Both Correa Cotto and Jose Anibal Gerena Lafontaine (La Palomilla) were simple men, thrust by circumstances into extraordinary acts of transgression that challenged the colonial status quo. Correa and Gerena were men of their times, embodying the passions of a people experiencing the trauma of rapid urbanization and displacement. Anthony Felton who also produced Correa Cotto: Asi Me Llaman will be present for a Q&A after the film. Jaime Sanchez. A leading actor in both Puerto Rican and American cinema, who stars in La Palomilla will be present after that screening. Ritchie Velez, an actor who appears as a cell mate in La Palomila will also be present. Some graphic scenes.

BORDER ART: AN INTRODUCTION

Elisa Perea’s Nogales, Aqui Es gives an extensive overview of the current art scene in Nogales that sits Janus-face between Mexico and the U.S. Actually, there are two towns named Nogales, the one South of the border is highlighted here as home to a fine pool of artists whose work clearly reflects the transnational nature of life on the border. In Spanish with English subtitles.

IT’S THE ENVIRONMENT…

In keeping with our practice of presenting films dealing with the environment and ecology, the summer film series presents three remarkable documentaries.

Taking Root: The story of the Kenyan Green Movement spurred by Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai. In seeking to stave off the starvation of her community, this woman challenges modern Kenyan life, teaching her people once again how to plant and grow their own. In the process, she uncovers the legacy of colonialism, the forgotten history, the lost culture and tradition of a ravaged land.

Addicted to Plastic: A revealing documentary about our use and abuse of plastics. So dependent have we become on things made of plastic, and so accustomed to their quick disposal, that we are choking our planet, fish and birds. There is an area in the world’s ocean that has been likened to a cesspool floating with every type of plastic imaginable, old and new.

Swim the River: Looks at one man’s ambition to swim the entire length of the Hudson River in order to draw attention to its contamination and destruction. Chris Swain swims from the Adirondack Mountains to New York City, braving whitewater, sewage snapping turtles, hydroelectric dams, homeland security patrols, factory outfalls, and PCB exposure.

In keeping with our practice of presenting films dealing with the environment and ecology, the summer film series presents three remarkable documentaries.

Taking Root: The story of the Kenyan Green Movement spurred by Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai. In seeking to stave off the starvation of her community, this woman challenges modern Kenyan life, teaching her people once again how to plant and grow their own. In the process, she uncovers the legacy of colonialism, the forgotten history, the lost culture and tradition of a ravaged land.